Melissa's Honor

Chapter 5

Chapter 5


Melissa made it through Salt Lake City, taking the I-80 for the last leg of her journey to Cheyenne. At this point, seeing five hundred miles on the green signs at the roadside no longer intimidated her. For her, it was five hundred miles in the right direction, taking her to a home that she could live in and her pooch could run around and be a dog again. They had gotten into  a good travelling rhythm, but the wear and tear on their nerves was running ragged.


Six and a half hours after leaving Salt Lake City, they finally made it to Cheyenne. The directions on her map told her that she had a few more miles to go before she found her new house. Leaving a message on the real estate agent’s phone, she stopped at Safeway to load up with groceries and dog food and check at the local bank branch office for the state of her funds. Doing quick math, she transferred a small allowance from savings to checking and smiled at the friendly teller who told her to have a “real nice day now” as she left.





Ten minutes later, she was in front of their new home. The house was framed in front by two large trees, in full bloom but not quite leafed out. Melissa pulled forward and saw a detached two car garage, white aluminum  with green{//b} trim as was the house. The house had “old person bushes” in front, landscaping from the fifties really. Hedges she could deal with. She was curious about the inside though. From what she had been told, this was a two bedroom one bath and the old lady who had lived here her whole life with her husband, dead for ten years, was moved to an old folk’s home where she was safer and found friends.





Jack bounded up the steps, waiting for Melissa to follow. With just her purse in hand, she locked the car door and followed him to the door nearest the garage. With the keys that had been mailed to her, she unlocked the door and looked around inside.





The door led directly into the kitchen. It was typical of an older home, enough room to get the job done and not much else. Automatically making mental notes to get a rolling island for more counter space and storage, and a new refrigerator to take the place of the olive and chrome dinosaur currently there, she stepped into the dining room.


The carpet was an old seventies style chartreuse and pale green pattern. Some of the previous occupant’s furniture was still there as Melissa had arranged, saving her from furnishing the place right away. The table was old fashioned oak, sturdy and dark with age. The chairs matched it, both in wood and construction, a Shaker like style that would last centuries. There were hand-made seat pillows on the chairs, a Scottish looking red and black plaid that pleased the eye. The smell of the house was not bad at all, faintly of lemon polish actually.





The living room was connected to the dining room with the same carpeting, a serviceable pink cabbage rose couch and wooden entertainment center at one end. Both back bedrooms had burgundy patterned carpet and the bathroom had royal blue carpet. Definitely the first thing to fix was the flooring. But it would do for now. Finally, they had a home.








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